Three alleged armed robbers identified in $500M peso Yucatan heist

One of the vehicles invvoled in the heist was abandoned nearby. (PHOTO: sipse.com)

Three alleged armed robbers with long criminal records and hailing from Veracruz have been identified by authorities in connection with the $500,000 pesos ($29,000 USD) holdup outside Merida on Tuesday April 19.

The Public Security Secretariat (SSP) has managed to identify three of the six assailants involved in the armed assault on Calcehtok-Opichén highway.

Apparently, some are from the state of Veracruz and have long histories as criminals. Among the crimes allegedly committed are armed robbery, assault and carrying of firearms.

Prosecutors hope to seek arrest warrants soon in the case, but have not released names of the suspects.

In the van used in the heist, plates YP-79050, fingerprints were found, which will be linked to the Mexico Platform System.

One of the vehicles involved in the heist was abandoned nearby. (PHOTO: sipse.com)

The investigation suggests that the criminals had already studied the movements of their victims. One suspect apparently followed the movements of Bansefi employees from Ticul who were transporting a a large sum of pension funds.

It is presumed that the robbers knew a large sum of money was being transported in the Monza vehicle that was assaulted and that it had no safety protection.

From the time when the assault to when it was reported about 40 minutes elapsed, giving the robbers time to escape with the loot.

500 thousand pesos stolen

A helicopter has joined the search for six assailants still at large in the holdup that took place Tuesday April 19.

Senaides Chuc Collí, one of the Bansefi workers who was a victim of the assault on Opichén-Calcehtok road, was the first to break loose. He left the mountain where he had been tied up, went to the road, stopped a motorist who lent him his cell phone, and he called their bosses to report the theft.

Daniel Navarrete Dzul, a Bansefin employee who was in the assaulted van, speaks to a police officer near the crime scene. (PHOTO; yucatan.com.mx)

The other employees, said Chuc Collí, managed to untie themselves “as best they could”.

Heiler Daniel Navarrete Dzul, another employee of Bansefi, reported that several of the six subjects who committed the robbery had a northern accent and another a Yucatecan accent as well as speaking in Maya.

“We got down and they pointed their guns at us, one had a shotgun and two of them had guns, apparently .22s. We were asked to cooperate and my partner Senaides Chuc was hit by a hook punch in the stomach, and the policeman Halachó was punched in the face by an assailant who said, “there’s the one that owed us”.

“One wanted to shoot him but I think the assailant repented. One took my hat, threw it to the ground and told me I didn’t need it anymore. The assailants took all the bags, they even took away the cell phones”, he said.

Officers from the Attorney General and several police agencies responded to the scene

Experts from the Attorney General inspected the van and checked for traces left by the thieves, who abandoned it 10 kilometers from where they committed the assault.

Checkpoints were installed in the Ticul-Muna road up to the Sacalum crossing, in Muna-Maxcanú road in crossing at Opichén, to the entrance to Maxcanú, and even a helicopter from SSP joined in the search for the thieves.

The municipal agent Halachó, Chuc Collí of Bansefi and another worker were transferred to the Attorney General at Maxcanú to make their statement about the assault.

Because of the holdup benefits from the Pension for the Aging in Halachó were not paid yesterday, but it was announced it will be paid soon.